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Herald Headlines
A couple of recent stories in the Miami Herald have caught my attention, not necessarily because of the stories themselves, but because of the headlines used to grab the readers' attention.
Here's one of them:
- Traffic Can Make Visitors Wish They Weren't Here
According to the article, 19 percent of overnight visitors to Miami-Dade County listed traffic or overdevelopment as their main complaint about the area. In comparison, only 1 percent listed crime as the main concern.
Based on the article, I was expecting something closer to 50 percent. Big deal. We all know traffic is a big problem here, as do most of the visitors to this area. I mean, it's not like people come to Miami expected a few days of peace and tranquility away from the hustle and bustle. The survey results reflect that. Of course, to the Herald, it's always good to take a few good-natured shots at the area, even if it's over something that's meaningless in the overall scheme of things.
What headline would I have used?
Here it goes: Visitors Give Miami Good Reviews Despite Traffic Concerns.
I know what you're thinking. Nah, way too cheery and upbeat for the Herald.
Another story on Miami-Dade's efforts to go wireless in a few years had this headline:
- Hurdles Cloud Visions of Wireless County.
Let's see. The mayor is undertaking a project to offer wireless internet access to all of the county's 2.5 million residents. Is it going to be easy? Of course not. The Herald, masters of the obvious as long as it's negative, goes with the easy and pessimistic headline.
How about this one instead: Mayor Alvarez Unveils Ambitious County Wireless Project
Here's one more courtesy of Castro Death Watch:
- Miami Cool To Romney's Stance
As stated in the linked post at Castro Death Watch, the Cuban-Americans in attendance clapped and cheered practically everything Mitt Romney said. Perhaps the audience wasn't too crazy about his stance on illegal immigration. Should that be the focus, the headline of the story? It's not like Cuban-Americans worry too much about people being tough on illegal immigrants, and I seriously doubt that this issue ranks very high on C-A's list of top priorities. In fact, I would say that a good many C-As actually AGREE with Romney's tough stance on illegals.
But, no, the Herald takes the one potential negative and shines the light on it.
Here's my headline: Romney's Talks Tough on Cuba and Illegal Immigration.
More complete, more representative.
Here's one of them:
- Traffic Can Make Visitors Wish They Weren't Here
According to the article, 19 percent of overnight visitors to Miami-Dade County listed traffic or overdevelopment as their main complaint about the area. In comparison, only 1 percent listed crime as the main concern.
Based on the article, I was expecting something closer to 50 percent. Big deal. We all know traffic is a big problem here, as do most of the visitors to this area. I mean, it's not like people come to Miami expected a few days of peace and tranquility away from the hustle and bustle. The survey results reflect that. Of course, to the Herald, it's always good to take a few good-natured shots at the area, even if it's over something that's meaningless in the overall scheme of things.
What headline would I have used?
Here it goes: Visitors Give Miami Good Reviews Despite Traffic Concerns.
I know what you're thinking. Nah, way too cheery and upbeat for the Herald.
Another story on Miami-Dade's efforts to go wireless in a few years had this headline:
- Hurdles Cloud Visions of Wireless County.
Let's see. The mayor is undertaking a project to offer wireless internet access to all of the county's 2.5 million residents. Is it going to be easy? Of course not. The Herald, masters of the obvious as long as it's negative, goes with the easy and pessimistic headline.
How about this one instead: Mayor Alvarez Unveils Ambitious County Wireless Project
Here's one more courtesy of Castro Death Watch:
- Miami Cool To Romney's Stance
As stated in the linked post at Castro Death Watch, the Cuban-Americans in attendance clapped and cheered practically everything Mitt Romney said. Perhaps the audience wasn't too crazy about his stance on illegal immigration. Should that be the focus, the headline of the story? It's not like Cuban-Americans worry too much about people being tough on illegal immigrants, and I seriously doubt that this issue ranks very high on C-A's list of top priorities. In fact, I would say that a good many C-As actually AGREE with Romney's tough stance on illegals.
But, no, the Herald takes the one potential negative and shines the light on it.
Here's my headline: Romney's Talks Tough on Cuba and Illegal Immigration.
More complete, more representative.
Labels: Miami Herald Headlines
posted by Robert at 9:54 PM
8 Comments:
On Romney, Robert: Pepe Diaz's quote from the story. Yeah. The fact that Romney is for English-only in schools. Uh, yeah.
It's okay to look at the glass as half full most of the time. But when you start habitually glossing over facts in order to get there?
Not good.
Rick,
Can you please point me to the section in the article that talks about Romney's English-only stance in schools?
That's right, it's not there. The post simply refers to the article and the headline that was chosen to feature said article. Simple. You can't gloss over what's not there, regardless of whether your glass is half-full, or as in your case, perpetually half-empty.
Is this too hard for you to understand?
One more thing Rick,
My conclusions are my opinions. You know, something us bloggers are good at expressing? I really don't care what Pepe Diaz was quoted as saying. The issue of cracking down on illegal immigration is something that a significant number of Cuban-Americans happen to agree with, as CDW also stated.
Wet foot/dry foot, that's another story.
Robert, you are obviously unqualified to be a journalist.
;)
Robert:
The article doesn't mention Romney's English-only stance, but anyone who has been following these candidates, especially those who are bilingual, should know that. Perhaps that's why, in part, Diaz said what he did. And perhaps that's why it's important to include or at least consider Diaz's quote when formulating "your headline" and bashing the Herald for theirs.
I'm not sure what's worse: the Herald selectively coming up with their headline or you cherry-picking from the story to come up with yours.
And Jonathan, as always, your contribution is priceless.
.
Rick,
Perhaps. But unless you know Diaz personally, you can't assume that he made that comment in response to Romney's language stance. If that would have come out in the article, then it would have been a totally different story. But it didn't, which relegates your comments here to nothing more than a disapproval of the content of my post, which is perfectly fine by me.
I know you're trying hard to dig up controversy and dissent within the local Republican ranks - at least that's what it appears like to me. Keep on trying, one of these days you may just stumble on something that actually has substance.
As far as cherry-picking is concerned, I'm guilty as charged. At least I'm open about it, which is a LOT more than I can say for some of my fellow local bloggers (HINT, HINT).
Oh no! Our extreme right-wing extremist conspiracy is revealed! Rove will have us beaten for sure.
Robert: Firstly, I'm more than used to your hints. I just don't know why it is you can't just say these things instead of "hinting" all the time.
I really don't know if Diaz considered Romney's support of English-only schools. And you don't either. But what I do know is that he said something that shows exactly where the Herald got its headline that you criticized. For you to ignore that statement, in my opinion, shows your attempts to needlessly rap the Herald on this particular headline.
I agree that the Herald deserves its share of critique. But the Romney story headline, in my opinion, didn't deserve it.
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